The DPRK owes its powerful military strength to President Kim Il Sung, who put forward a policy of giving priority to the military affairs and built revolutionary armed forces.

With two pistols given by his father as an asset, the President made preparations for an armed struggle and founded the Korean People's Revolutionary Army (KPRA) on April 25, Juche 21 (1932).

Under his command, the KPRA, with neither state-backing home front nor assistance of a regular army, fought against the Japanese imperialists and liberated the country.

After the liberation, the President developed the KPRA into the Korean People's Army (KPA), a regular army of a sovereign and independent state.

Thanks to his outstanding strategies and tactics, the KPA defeated the U.S. imperialists, who styled itself the "strongest" in the world, in the Fatherland Liberation War (1950-1953).

After the war, the President set forth a military line of self-reliant defense and steadily strengthened the armed forces on the basis of the revolutionary traditions established in the anti-Japanese armed struggle.

Under the military-first guidance of the Supreme Commander, Kim Jong Il, the KPA has grown into an invincible army strong in ideology and faith, equipped with up-to-date offensive and defensive means.